The present invention relates to a system for releasing a pedal of a motor vehicle in the event of a frontal impact.
In order better to understand the art in this field, and the problems associated with it, a known embodiment of a system for the release of a pedal of a motor vehicle will be described first, with reference to FIG. 5 of the appended drawings, which forms part of European Patent Application EP 0 827 885.
This application proposes a system which, in the event of an impact of the motor vehicle, is able to disengage a brake pedal lever 10 from a support body 16, secured to the vehicle body, in order to minimize the risk of injury to the driver""s legs. The pedal 10 is hinged by a pin 11 to a bracket 20, a lower portion of which is pivoted in turn on the body 16 by means of a hinge 15, and an upper portion of which is secured to a hook device 30 by means of a pin 21. The hook device 30 is pivoted at a first point 32 on a steering column 40 and rigidly connected at a second point 33 to the support body 16. Under normal operating conditions of the vehicle, the hook device 30 is held in a first working position in which it holds the bracket 20 stationary. In the event, however, of a frontal impact of the vehicle, movement of the support body 16 towards the passenger compartment, and thus towards the steering column 40, causes the hook device 30 to rotate anticlockwise about the point 32 at which it is pivoted on the said steering column, resulting in disengagement of the pin 21 integral with the bracket 20. No longer fixed to the hook device 30, the bracket 20 is free to rotate clockwise about the point 15 at which it is pivoted on the support body 16. This means that the pedal 10 also is free to rotate clockwise, about a point 13 at which it is connected to the control rod of the servo-assisted brake, by the effect of the reactive force exerted by the driver""s foot, until it reaches a wall 17 separating the engine compartment from the passenger compartment.
The main disadvantage of an arrangement of this type consists in the space it takes up and in the risk of jamming during emergency operation in the event of a collision. In order to overcome this second drawback, the patent discussed above explicitly mentions the need to arrange the points at which the various elements of the system are connected very carefully, so that the point 13 at which a reactive force is applied to the pedal 10, when this is pressed, substantially coincides with the point 15 at which the bracket 20 is pivoted on the support body 16, in order to ensure that the pedal 10 and the bracket 20 rotate about the same point.
The object of the present invention is to provide an improved system for releasing a pedal of a motor vehicle which is of a reduced size, of simple structure and of reliable and quick operation.
As will become apparent from the description which follows, this object is achieved according to the invention by providing a system for releasing a pedal of a motor vehicle in the event of a frontal impact, characterised by the appended Claims and in particular by the fact that it includes
a pedal, comprising
a first, inner element, transversely pivoted at a first point on a support secured to the front portion of the vehicle body and able to operate a rod for controlling the device associated with the pedal;
a second, outer element which has a lower lever portion for operation by the driver, and an upper portion, transversely pivoted at a second point on the inner element, and
releasable coupling means for coupling the two inner and outer elements of the pedal; and
a stop member mounted in a portion of the passenger compartment behind the pedal;
the system being capable of assuming two operating conditions:
a first, normal operating condition, in which the inner and outer elements of the pedal are coupled by the releasable coupling means; and
a second operating condition, in the event of a frontal impact of the vehicle, in which movement backwards of the pedal towards the stop member is capable of causing the aforesaid coupling means to be released, thereby allowing the outer element of the pedal to rotate about the second pivoting point.
The main advantage of the system of the invention consists essentially in a reduction of the space occupied and in a simple structure, since the system forms part of the pedal and does not therefore require additional external support elements.
Another important advantage consists in the fact that a releasable pedal according to the invention can be mounted as it is on conventional pedal supports, since it requires only a support for the first pivoting pin.